


catch me if you can - eden

by nihilisum



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Biting, Comfort, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Boyfriends, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Hot Chocolate, Inspired by Music, Late Night Conversations, Love Bites, M/M, Slice of Life, Snow, Talking, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:22:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27171019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nihilisum/pseuds/nihilisum
Summary: lo-fi rap filled the comfortable silence that had once been. nick blew at his hot chocolate, drizzled at the sides with chocolate sauce and balancing mini marshmallows at the surface, fluffy white bodies bobbing up and down in the swirling hazelnut drink. he took a sip and felt cradled."good?" clay always asked with a grin.nick always nodded, pulling his mouth away from the brim of the mug with a hot chocolate mustache. "s'good," he said, looking up and receiving the giggly kiss clay always gave him.warm, and sweet, and tasting of his and clay's childhood – clay's mom used to make it the same way when nick came over for sleepovers. they drank it together all the time, before clay's sweet tooth rotted away with his age. he only had it on occasions now, while nick had it every time he came over in the cold.nick thought as his drink swirled in its mug. those were the days, back when everything was so simple, and easy, when everything was written for them. now, as adults, they were holding the pen with their own hands."aren't you scared?"or the one where nick and clay talk about the future.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 156





	catch me if you can - eden

the november air was cold, and nipped at anyone who dared to step out of their houses without a scarf and gloves, but beneath the covers, nick and clay laid, basking in each other's sunshine warmth and living in may.

clay had welcomed him into his humble abode with a peck on the lips, tugging his scarf down from his face and kissing the cold away. they stood there for a moment with nick's cheeks cupped by his palms, kissing, until the taller male finally pulled away. he took his hand, guided him to his bedroom, and sat him down on the pulled out sofa bed with the promise of a comforting mug of hot chocolate, with extra marshmallows just the way nick liked. he didn't get into the kitchen however, and not even close to the bedroom door, for nick had wrapped his hands around clay's neck and pulled both of their bodies down to the bed, their lips connecting again.

clay was the one to break the kiss once more, gazing down in wonder at his counterpart. "someone's clingy today," he said breathlessly, the adrenaline of their little rendezvous coursing through his body. 

"i'm always clingy," replied nick, making a point out of tugging him down again, their noses only barely brushing together. he yearned for more of that feeling, leaning up to bump their noses together when clay playfully resisted.

"but especially so today," clay murmured, his lips quirking in amusement as nick resembled closely a needy kitten, desperate for nose nuzzles, and nudges, and other sorts of little touches. "something happen?"  
  
nick blinked up from the little flecks of hair flaring out from clay's chin up to his green eyes. they were as pretty as ever, framed by his dark eyelashes. oh, right, nick thought absently as he moved his hand from his neck to up and through clay's hair. the wavy strands had lost their summer shade of dark blonde and had debuted once again with the dark chocolate shade.

clay watched nick admire him, and somehow ended up admiring him back.

nick was always such a loudmouth in his presence. he had received plenty of noise complaints from his neighbours from whenever he was around, from the excitement of playing video games to nick finding his speakers and making the kitchen into his stage. when he got home from a class, nick filled the usual quietness of clay's apartment with passionate babbling, or nonsensical babbling, and whichever it was, clay welcomed it. 

he was always giggling, flirting, or being endearingly obnoxious or immature. to see him so mellow and relaxed, it was a strange occasion, though had clay's heart fluttering in a pattern that came about only once in a while. 

"seriously," clay smiled, a laugh slipping through his nose. "what's up with you, pandas?"

 _pandas_. nick let his hand drop from clay's hair and braced his shoulders. he pushed their bodies up again, hands then dropping to clay's hips as he sat on the bed with the latter towering above him.

clay held nick's chin in his hand and looked at him. "nick?" he said softly.

he looked up lovingly. "hot chocolate pwease?" 

nick busied himself with undressing as clay busied himself in the kitchen. taking off his clothes, he rummaged through clay's wardrobe and acquired a football t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. they smelled of the vanilla of his washing, which wasn't the scent in particular nick was looking for, however pleasant it was. he paused briefly and surveyed the room until his eyes spotted a sweatshirt laying across the back of clay's desk chair.

 _bingo_ , he thought, snatching it from the chair and tugging it over himself. immediately, nick was able to breath in the woods, clay's colognes always having some sort of earthy fragrance to them. to nick, it wasn't tree bark, or mossy rain, or a campfire. it was the smell of his boyfriend, the smell that eased him when he hugged his back, or front, or when he snuck into one of his oversized sweaters while clay was still wearing them, inhaling the scent while playfully nipping into his sensitive skin.

nick did that a lot, climbed into his clothes while clay cooked or did anything in the kitchen. he couldn't help it; he liked the feeling of him beneath his tongue or teeth. his skin had always been so warm, even when it was the world's coldest. 

he glanced over at clay's monitors for a moment. one displayed unfinished code while the other was open on his youtube channel, still sitting with no videos and just above five hundred subscribers. sprawled across his desk space were books, some open and some stacked upon each other, and some having notes sprawled in the margins. nick felt something in his chest at the sights. it was fleeting, but familiar, reminiscent of recent late nights where he had thought and thought until dawn, and gone into class with eye bags and a cloudy mind.

the shuffling in the kitchen took the role of life jacket, saving nick from drowning in his thoughts. 

he let himself get whisked away until he was stood behind clay at the stove. he frowned, gazing at his back. he was wearing a turtleneck, one that looked hard to squeeze into.

"don't even try," clay murmured, gently stirring the simmering pot of hot chocolate. nick could tell he was smiling smugly, even without gazing at the lift of his ears.

"that's why this was there," nick huffed, gazing down at the sweatshirt he was wearing, big and puffy on his body. "you totally changed before i came, didn't you?"

clay hummed. "possibly."

nick begrudgingly glared at the turtleneck. on one hand it hugged his boyfriend in all the right places, his shoulders and biceps looking good, on the other it had stopped nick from his love bites.

"if it were any other day i'd get inside anyway," nick scoffed, wrapping his arms around clay, his hands slipping beneath the material and feeling the life of his skin beneath his palms. 

"so there is something wrong today," said clay, his tone thoughtful.

nick ignored him and brushed his lips against clay's clothed neck. "am i weird?" he whispered, yearning for the barrier of material to fall away.

"yeah. but so what? everybody's weird."

clay's back was always so littered with the indents of nick's teeth. he would burrow himself and nip, biting hard enough that it would sting and leave a mark but not hard enough that it would bleed. hickey after hickey decorated his lightly toned skin, some flaring over a freckle or three. sometimes, nick simply liked the feeling of grazing his teeth against his back, and not biting. he couldn't explain it to someone without them being weirded out, but to him it was no different to biting and sucking on someone's neck. he liked feeling clay's broad back, and his faint abs, and liked holding him as he did a task, being a pleasant bother to the older man.

nick smiled and leaned over to kiss at the jutting out bone of his jawline. "thanks, dweam," he sleepily mumbled, continuing through a sigh, "you're the bestest."

nick allowed clay to work, mostly because he wanted the hot chocolate as soon as possible. he wondered off to his room, sitting on the bed against pillowed wall, until clay followed with a mug of delight leaving a trail of its heat in the air.

"careful," clay hummed as nick took it from his hands with his sweater paws. he then climbed over and sit next to him, dragging the winter blankets up and surrounding their bodies with it.

"thanks." he pecked clay's cheek.

"do you want to watch anime?" clay suggested, placing a hand over nick's thigh. nick's timid heart fluttered at the soft green. clay wasn't at all interested in anime, but if it meant it made nick feel more like himself, he was willing to sit through the entirety of a series. 

the younger shook his head. "music?" 

clay nodded and pulled out his phone. he tapped spotify and tapped his saved playlists, all of them belonging to nick's account. 

lo-fi rap filled the comfortable silence that had once been. nick blew at his hot chocolate, drizzled at the sides with chocolate sauce and balancing mini marshmallows at the surface, fluffy white bodies bobbing up and down in the swirling hazelnut drink. he took a sip and felt cradled.

"good?" clay always asked with a grin.

nick always nodded, pulling his mouth away from the brim of the mug with a hot chocolate mustache. "s'good," he said, looking up and receiving the giggly kiss clay always gave him.

warm, and sweet, and tasting of his and clay's childhood – clay's mom used to make it the same way when nick came over for sleepovers. they drank it together all the time, before clay's sweet tooth rotted away with his age. he only had it on occasions now, while nick had it every time he came over in the cold.

nick thought as his drink swirled in its mug. those were the days, back when everything was so simple, and easy, when everything was written for them. now, as adults, they were holding the pen with their own hand.

"aren't you scared?" 

clay glanced at him questioningly, hand still resting on his thigh. 

nick took another sip, scooping up some marshmallows and chewing them as he thought for another moment. clay was patient. in the corner of his eyes, nick could see his fingers gently stroking his thigh, inching apart and encouraging him to take his time.

he licked his lips. "you always seem to go into things head first," nick said unsurely. "you... you graduated high school, and– and even though your parents wanted you to go to college, you said no without a second thought. it didn't faze you one bit when they said you couldn't live with them. i mean, you just–! you just found a place and went along with it! and you work three jobs just to get by, and–!"

clay squeezed the flesh of his thigh gently, rubbing up and down in short paces. nick breathed out slowly, the hot chocolate seeming to slow down and dawdle in the mug.

"don't you get scared? you're putting so much faith into doing youtube, and don't get me wrong, i believe in you and support you so much! but... don't you... just feel like you don't know where you're going?"

a pause. the world seemed to inhabit only them as they sat close together, the music dwindling the day away, slowly darkening, and clay's room being their warm hideout, for their conversations and kisses and mugs of hot chocolate. it was nice, a night you documented on polaroids and hung up on your walls. 

nick blinked as the marshmallows stilled. he looked up and glanced. "clay?"

clay didn't look at him as said lowly, "of course, i'm scared." nick kept his eyes trained on his side profile as he continued, "even if i say it don't faze me."

"y–you are?" 

"yeah. i mean, why wouldn't i be? i'm putting every single ounce of myself into something that might as well be luck based." 

"is youtube luck based...?" nick wasn't the brains out of the two of them, and clay had been studying for a while how to succeed on the internet.

"well, it's not exactly meritocratic."

nick deadpanned. "that's a big word, dream."

"i mean that some people do youtube for years and years, and put just as much, if not, more effort into their channels as the big ones, and they never really get anywhere." clay glanced at him briefly with a somber expression. "do you get it? i'm riding on this chance. yeah, i'm trying to make sure everything is up to standard so i do get somewhere, but it might not work too. don't think for a minute that it isn't scary for me. it is."

his viridian eyes bled his truths, and so did the unhinged shade painting his features. nick stared in wonder. when had he gotten so good at hiding, and when did nick get so bad at seeking those treasures out?

"are you not enjoying college?"

"no, no, i am," nick answered. "computer science is my thing after all. i love it... it's just... i don't know..." he didn't know at all. the thoughts had just begun after a long week of the same classes and the same routine. "i guess... it's just scaring me that i'm not a kid anymore. everything was given to me, and now i have to do it all by myself."

"not all by yourself." clay frowned, almost pouted as he rocked their forehead together gently, in affection. "you have me, don't you?"

nick nudged him back. "but you have your own plan. i don't have one at all..."

clay hummed pensively before he abruptly blurted out, "plans are overrated."

nick scoffed. "you can't say that with your desk full of them!"

"they just aren't for everyone, and that's okay," clay reassured, tapping his fingers over nick's knee. "some people have them and some people don't. i didn't have a plan when i moved out, and i didn't have a plan when i ripped my college acceptance letter in front of dad's eyes."

"wasn't the plan to 'run'?" 

clay snorted. "okay, maybe i had that." nick smiled, enjoying the reaction. "the point is... you never really know where you're going, so why not just go into things head first?" 

"really? isn't that, like, reckless as hell?"

clay blinked at him and smirked, a muffled laugh simpering out. "you really are growing up," he said fondly, reaching over and tickling his chin.

"hey," pouted nick. "that's gross. don't say that."

"just run, and never let anyone catch you," clay said considerately. "not the past, or your mistakes, or the plans you could have made." 

nick down the last of his hot chocolate in a few big gulps, his throat burning only slightly as he liked the excess off of his upper lip.

"we can drive off into the sunset, even if it's not the plan," clay murmured, taking nick's hand in his, discarding the mug to the bedside table. 

the burn felt good, and so did clay's hand in his, and the music, too, and their feet brushing against each other's beneath the blankets. 

"you really think it will be all right to live like that?"

"i don't know what will happen. i just know that we're all future bound, so what choice do we have? no matter how afraid we are, the future will always chase us." clay looked again, and nick swore he saw a star in his eye, hidden between the flecks of murky green but very much there. "we just... have to keep running... y'know?"

nick nodded slowly, lost in clay. his words... they were so enchanting... surreal almost. nick found himself attaching to them, grasping them between his fingers and locking them away in his heart to listen to on repeat forever. 

he nodded again, this time much more reassured, his cheeks rising with the biggest smile he had worn that day.

"i know, dream," he whispered. the rap still played in the background, soft and raspy, between the beats and strums of the calming music. "i know."

"i'm glad." sweet as nectar, clay kissed his forehead and tugged him into a hug. he rubbed at his back while cushioning him into his chest, smiling into his hazelnut hair and sighing.

"i love you," nick mumbled, hugging him back just as passionately.

"i love you too."

they stayed in each other's embrace for a moment, simply existing, until clay untied them.

"hey," he said.

"yeah?" 

"what was that about me having my own plan?"

nick glanced at his desk and then back at him. "youtube," he said simply. 

"yeah, and you think i'm just going to leave you behind?"

he blinked up at his disbelieving frown. "huh?"

"come on," clay sighed, kicking the blankets off and tugging nick out of the bed. 

"what are we doing?"

"creating your channel."

"my channel?"

"yes, pandas," clay said tiredly, and suddenly nick found himself perched on his knee as they sat in clay's desk chair. "did you think i was joking all those times we talked as kids? we're going to make it big. _together_ , idiot."

"ow," nick pouted as clay flicked his forehead. he glanced at the screen as clay clicked and typed away. he was on the youtube and twitch website and was making whole new accounts. he looked back at clay. "are you being serious, dream?"

clay paused and looked back at him with conviction. "i have never been so serious about anything in my life, nick," he said firmly, not giving nick a moment to process his commitment before he continued typing away.

nick didn't have a plan, but if he had one, this would never have been in it. having an online presence had only crossed his mind in his daydreams, in middle school as he watched his favourite youtubers, through wishes, and hopes, and dreams as they were supposed to be, just dreams. this wasn't the route. this wasn't what he thought he'd write in ink and seal forever.

he didn't know he would hold the pen with clay's hand over his, with his back pressed against his, with their breaths mingling together. he knew what forever meant as they carved the word into trees and classroom desks, but this? this was something beyond nick's imagination.

the screen glared at him. his throat still had a sweet fire burning down it. he breathed, and smelled him, behind and surrounding him. he fidgeted, tugging at the sleeves of the sweatshirt, and relaxed.

they were running. 

"pandas is taken," clay tutted, the purple theme of twitch illuminating their faces.

nick smiled, his heart beating pleasantly in his chest. 

"can't we just add a letter, or something?" he suggested.

they were running for their lives.

"we could, but it's not that great for branding," dream mumbled. 

they were running like john dillinger.

"how about we flip it? like... like sadnap."

clay typed away and scowled again as the bar flashed red. "who took sadnap?"

they didn't know where they were going, but that was okay, they just had to keep going.

"sadnap... sadnap..." clay hummed, the cogs in his head turning. "sapnap... sapnap...!" 

nick watched as he typed it in, and the box outlined green, a tick appearing beside it in confirmation that the name was available.

clay brushed his nose against nick's cheek. "sapnap. what do you think?"

he tested it on his lip, "sapnap." he smiled and nodded. "sapnap. i like it." he giggled as he thought. "and then i can call my followers saplings...!"

"that's cute. suits you. and you like napping."

nick laughed, and soon they got to work. they made account after account, minecraft, twitter, youtube, and nick began shooting out ideas for his first video, the enthusiastic babbling returning as his anxieties had disappeared. 

time turned graciously, and by the moment the moon was up in the sky, nick was glued to the window after his eyes caught sharply the presence of white through a gap in the curtains.

"dream! dream, dream, look!" he cried in excitement, his commotion dragging clay from the bathroom back to the bedroom. he beamed at him as he entered and gestured to the window, snowflakes falling slowly like magic. "it's snowing!"

yeah. 

plan or not, it would all be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote 2k words of foreplay and flirting for skirtnap, then got stuck as hell so i wrote this 🥺 i can't go a single dreamnap fanfiction without writing about them cuddling or hugging in some sort of way, but what do you expect!! their names are DREAM and sapNAP !!!! they are meant to cuddle & snuggle !! 🥺 
> 
> ALSO i hope the biting thing isn't too weird.. it's an affectionate thing!!! i just think sapnap would be the type to get under dream's sweater and c h o m p but ✨lovingly✨ 
> 
> if you're interested, this is based off of "catch me if you can" by eden, and some of the lines dream says are the lyrics from it !! it's such a nice, sort of sad song, so check it out if you'd like !!! 
> 
> anyway, i hope u liked this :( another soft and gooey one :( i can't stop writing soft dreamnap im so sorry 🥺
> 
> ALSO IM SO EXCITED FOR TODAY'S MCC HHHSHSHDJS LETS GOOOO DT+KARL 💘💘💘


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